Volunteers injecting experimental vaccine Covivac. Photo: General Writing Domestic vaccines can reach 20-30 million doses/year According to the Ministry of Health, so far, the country has two manufacturers researching and developing vaccines against Covid-19.
The Nanocovax vaccine of the Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company has been approved for a phase 3 clinical trial (TNLS). In the past few days, the Military Medical Academy has administered experimental injections to volunteers aged 18.
According to the research outline, phase 3 will test on about 13,000 volunteers in many provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Hung Yen, Long An, Tien Giang, etc. In the North, the Military Medical Academy will act as the focal point for deployment. at Military Medical Hospital 103 and Hung Yen province’s preventive health center deployed locally. The southern area will be professionally handled by the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, in collaboration with the preventive health centers of Long An and Tien Giang provinces.
At the Military Medical Academy, there are currently more than 6,000 volunteers registered to participate in the trial, of which more than 600 people have been screened and are eligible to participate. In the immediate future, in the first phase of the TNLS phase 3, the Military Medical Academy will test 1,000 people. According to the Military Medical Academy, before that, in stages 1 and 2 of the Nano Covax vaccine trial, 100% of people who injected immunity were protected against the attack of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In the phase 3 trial, the Nano Covax vaccine was administered to volunteers from 18 years of age, and there was no maximum age limit for the trial participants. Currently, the oldest person to register for TNLS injection phase 3 is 83 years old. Nano Covax vaccine will also be administered to volunteers with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes (stable disease, do not inject during acute phase) to evaluate the results of immunogenicity. fluid, post-injection reaction… The results of the phase 3 clinical trial are the basis for the Ministry of Health to grant emergency permits and widely inject people to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic, which is expected in the fourth quarter of this year. Earlier, during a working visit to the Military Medical Academy, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue asked the Military Medical Academy to continue to closely coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to urgently accelerate the implementation of clinical trials. Preparing phase 3 of Nanocovax vaccine, striving for early results to have a preventive vaccine for the community. However, when manufacturing, vaccines must ensure superiority in antibody generation time, with the shortest number of days; minimize side effects to a minimum, especially for people with weak health and underlying diseases; at the same time, must be able to resist and destroy future mutations. In addition, the COVIVAC vaccine of the Nha Trang Institute of Vaccines and Biologicals, is currently in the first phase of the TNLS and is about to be transferred to the second phase of research in Thai Binh.
According to the Ministry of Health, the COVIVAC vaccine is expected to produce about 6 million doses per year and can increase capacity when invested. Meanwhile, with the Nanocovax vaccine, which is expected to produce about 20-30 million doses per year, Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company can increase its capacity when invested.
A vaccine is coming soon that only requires one dose
Information from the Department of Science and Technology (Ministry of Health), a Vietnamese enterprise has discussed and negotiated with the US manufacturer on conditions for transferring technology to produce Covid-19 vaccine from mRNA essence. It is known that this vaccine only needs to be injected with a single dose of 5 mg, has high protection (based on the results of TNLS phase 1, 2), has a storage temperature of 20 – 80 degrees Celsius, currently the vaccine has been tested. end of trial phase 1, 2).
The first factory following the manufacturer’s technology standards will increase the capacity of 100-200 million doses/year, and is expected to start production from the end of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022. In addition, the No. 1 Vaccine and Biological Products Company Limited (VABIOTECH) is also negotiating with a Japanese partner to receive the transfer of vaccine production technology to Vietnam. In addition, VABIOTECH signed an agreement with the Direct Investment Fund of the Russian Federation on the closure of Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine tubes from semi-finished products with a scale of 5 million doses/month starting from July 2021. , towards transferring production technology with the scale of 100 million doses/year.
According to Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, vaccines are an important weapon to bring life back to normal. Therefore, the Politburo has a policy on import, research, production and technology transfer for vaccines. Along with creating maximum conditions and quickly solving procedures for businesses and localities to import vaccines, Vietnam also promotes research and domestic production of vaccines. Vietnam is one of the first four countries in the world to isolate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, paving the way for research and production of vaccines, and many positive prospects for people to soon receive domestic vaccines. In addition, the Ministry of Health has worked with many foreign partners, negotiated to buy vaccine copyrights, transfer technology so that Vietnam can get the vaccine as soon as possible and be independent in the source of vaccines used in the country.
Recently, the Ministry of Health has negotiated with Johnson & Johnson Corporation with the hope that this unit will transfer technology to set up a vaccine factory in Vietnam. According to Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, many large corporations in Vietnam want to participate in the global vaccine supply chain. Vietnam is also one of more than 40 countries that can produce vaccines for the vaccination needs of the people, so the vaccine production experience of Vietnamese factories is guaranteed. Vietnam’s national vaccine management system (NRA) has also been certified as meeting standards by the World Health Organization (WHO). Johnson & Johnson’s side commits that after working with the Ministry of Health, it will make efforts to implement solutions to speed up the supply process through the COVAX mechanism, so that Vietnam can have Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as soon as possible. However, Minister Nguyen Thanh Long also said that, to ensure vaccine security, one of the very important issues is to ensure a sustainable financial source for vaccines. Therefore, the Minister wishes that the community, authorities and businesses continue to support the Vaccine Fund. Vietnam has self-produced many vaccines and put them into the expanded vaccination program, contributing to the eradication and repelling of many dangerous diseases. This is the premise for the successful production of a Covid-19 vaccine. In fact, the research and production of vaccines against Covid-19 faces many difficulties and challenges, but this is the inevitable path we must go if we want to actively supply vaccines to serve the people. Over the past time, the Ministry of Health and State management agencies have created all conditions for administrative procedures for units to conduct vaccine production in the most favorable way. We can fully expect a “made in Vietnam” vaccine because at the moment, everything is going well.

Senior Advisor of the Center for Emergency Response to Public Health Events, Assoc. Tran Dac Phu The success of a vaccine depends not only on the manufacturer, researcher, and manager, but also on the social community. Therefore, we call for the cooperation of society, all people with the health sector to have a clinical trial research program, first of all, to be safe and effective to have a product soon. vaccines produced by Vietnam for the community.

Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Investment (Ministry of Health), Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang

At the same time, the grant helps to urgently invest in the production system of materials and equipment to ensure the supply of a sufficient number of necessary vaccines, supplemented with the amount of imported vaccines, towards the completion of the Covid-19 vaccination program. -19 for the people of Vietnam right this year. Test injection of Nanocovax vaccine phase 1 at the Military Medical Academy. Photo: Viet Linh. In phase 3, the Nanocovax vaccine will be tested in multi-centers at domestic facilities with about 13,000 volunteers. In the North, there are Military Medical Academy and Hung Yen, in the South, there are Pasteur Institutes in Ho Chi Minh City and Long An. Phase 3 is divided into several sub-phases, first injecting 800 registered volunteers, then continuing to recruit more. The optimal dose chosen for phase 3 is 25 mcg. Through the study, all 3 dose groups of 25 mcg, 50 mcg and 75 mcg produced equivalent immunity, due to the equal effectiveness, the Ethics Committee chose the lowest dose for production, saving raw materials. If all goes well, by the end of September, phase 3 testing will be complete. At that time, Vietnam can produce the first Covid-19 vaccine. Exchange with Zing Mr. Ho Nhan, founder and general director of Nanogen Company, did not comment or disclose more about this information. He said the company has stocked up enough materials to produce a vaccine right after the third phase of testing is completed. The company said that if it goes well, it can produce 100 million doses this year. Nanocovax vaccine is Vietnam’s first Covid-19 vaccine that is allowed to be tested in clinical trials, manufactured by Nanogen Company based on recombinant protein technology. The phase 1 clinical trial took place from December 17, 2020, to the end of April completed the phase 2 trial on 560 volunteers, expanding the audience from 18 to over 60 years old, of which one the number of people with underlying diseases such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, grade 1 cardiovascular disease… are not too severe. Besides Nanocovax, the second domestic vaccine being tested is Covivac of IVAC Company, which has now completed phase 1 injection.